[2] Absolutely. I'd be fine if they didn't make a trade, but I'd much rather Johnson over Halladay. It's about age and mileage. I think Halladay is close to his decline. Johnson is still on his way up.

I might be coming around on Halladay if the Yanks can do it for one of Joba or Hughes plus a few lower ranked arms like Nova and Betances. Then, who says the Yanks have to re-sign Halladay immediately? If they want to re-sign him they always can afford him or they can take the two picks and decide who to sign among Lee, Halladay, Beckett, and Webb or go with the farm.

Flags do fly forever and if they're not convinced Joba or Hughes will ever find themselves, then it's an easy trade to make. Take Halladay for a year and be ready to move on. That rotation would be alot of fun. They'd still have one of Hughes or Joba plus other almost ready arms like IPK and McAllister.

On Johnson, how can you complain about Halladay's mileage and still think Johnson's injury record is something to bank on?

[6] That was a long time ago. Sure, he has thrown 1000 innings the last four years, but I take that as a sign of a workhorse.

By contrast, JJ has just one 200 inning season in his young career. We could think he's turned a corner, but with pitchers I'd rather take the proven healthy than the projected healthy. You could certainly come back and say "Well, look at Halladay at 25. He had his first healthy season and dominated...just like Josh Johnson just did". And I'd have nothing. It's all guesswork at this point. With Halladay, he could get hurt but his track record means more, I think.

Same package, I choose Halladay. If I want a young pitcher with unknowns I simply keep the youth already in the system.